


admiring you from a distance

by celestixl



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: .............or Is It, Pining, Unrequited Crush, idek, nursey doesn't have any chill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-15 00:33:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11794725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestixl/pseuds/celestixl
Summary: In which Derek Nurse loses his carefully constructed chill around one not-so-oblivious William Poindexter, Larissa Duan is a better friend than any angsty poet probably deserves, and Shakespeare is a somewhat recurring character. They're all just dumb college kids. Life happens.





	admiring you from a distance

**Author's Note:**

> this is pure ridiculousness ok don’t @ me 
> 
> summary written mostly by la, the love of my life 
> 
> title from ‘escape’ by kehlani (again, shoutout to la). i think it’s important to mention that in my google drive this is called “2 hot 2 handle” which is the official alternate title for this fic

It’s not the sudden stepping right off a cliff and falling face-first in love, like it usually is for Nursey. Most of the time, he trips right into a crush: one moment where they tilt their head just right, and the light hits their eyes, or one second when they say something witty and laugh and Nursey’s heart feels like it’s going to beat right out of his chest. 

That’s not what happens with Dex. 

At some point -- Nursey doesn’t even notice it -- the arguing becomes less like arguing and more like good-natured bickering. They learn to move around each other. They’re no longer at odds with one another at the slightest provocation; they both learn to listen, to try to understand a little better. At some point, it becomes the norm for Dex to sit next to Nursey at team breakfast, despite the higher rate of spilled drinks occurring in the two seats beside Nursey. At some point, the on-ice chemistry that immediately made them potentially amazing d-men stops being potential and starts being actuality. 

And Nursey doesn’t even notice, not really, that he’s not just falling into a tentative truce, not just into a friendship, but maybe, just a little bit, just a tiny drop at a time, he’s falling in love too. 

Mostly, though, Nursey realizes that Dex is really fucking hot, which is totally not fair, because they’re just friends, and barely that, even. Sure, Dex might not be a complete asshat anymore, but he’s still _Dex_ , he’s still annoying and easily angered and too uptight. The less logical part of Nursey doesn’t seem to care. 

Nursey has done nothing wrong in his life ever, (which is a lie, but…) he doesn’t deserve the sight that greets him when he gets to the Haus, driven all the way across campus by Bitty’s text of _fresh cookies, come get them :)_ : Dex, in a pair of sinfully tight jeans, is sitting on the kitchen counter, and it’s honestly a surprise that Bitty hasn’t told him off for that yet, but he’s preoccupied fiddling with his phone. 

Nursey takes a deep breath, and comes to terms with this new torture he hadn’t known existed just in time, because Dex hears him shuffle in and half-turns to grin at Nursey. 

“Did you sprint here? There’s no way you made it all the way across campus in three minutes walking.” 

Nursey just tosses his head dramatically and says, “Anything for Bitty’s baking,” as he grabs two cookies and stuffs them both in his mouth at once, before he can say something dumb and embarrassing about how good Dex looks right now. Both Bitty and Dex roll their eyes good-naturedly, and Nursey flops down to sit at the kitchen table, pulling out his work. 

He makes sure to sit with his back to where Dex is still sitting on the countertop. 

***

The phone is buzzing incessantly on Nursey’s bedside table, and he blinks blearily at it before finally giving up and grabbing it before it buzzes straight off the table and onto the ground. His screen is just a row of messages from the team, yelling at him to get his ass to a spontaneous team breakfast. 

[from _bittylicious_ to _eat more hockey sticks_ , 8:25 am] team breakfast today don’t forget!! :) 

[from _tyrannosaurus dex_ to _eat more hockey sticks_ , 8:47 am] @ Nursey: Holster won’t stop screaming in my ear that you can’t just have one d-man at team breakfasts, so if you don’t get here soon I will personally murder you

[ _shitman_ changed the group name to _nursey is dead_ ]

[from _butter_ to _nursey is dead_ , 8:49 am] rip nursey i’ll be sure to make a stunning portrait for the funeral 

[from _tyrannosaurus dex_ to _nursey is dead_ , 8:50 am] Get your ass up, Ransom has joined him

[from _tyrannosaurus dex_ to _nursey is dead_ , 8:52 am] I will murder you in your sleep. 

[from _doctor nurse_ to _nursey is dead_ , 9:02 am] chill man i’m coming 

[from _doctor nurse_ to _nursey is dead_ , 9:02 am] also it’s clearly gonna be an open casket funeral, my beautiful face in its actuality even dead is better than any portrait 

[from _tyrannosaurus dex_ to _nursey is dead_ , 9:04 am] I’m murdering you anyway, for “chill” 

[from _butter_ to _nursey is dead_ , 9:05 am] this bitch double dead for insulting my art skills like that 

Nursey’s at the Haus in ten minutes, beanie pulled over his curls and a thick jacket thrown over the comfiest sweater he owns. By some miracle, he had managed to work out his schedule to not have any Friday classes, so he has all his shit with him to get work done at the Haus. 

As soon as he opens the door, a chorus of yells rings out from the kitchen table, most noticeably Holster’s “FINALLY” when Nursey makes it into the kitchen. There’s one empty chair left, next to Dex, so Nursey drops into it, grins across the table. 

“Sorry I’m late,” he says, but three-fourths of the table is too busy stuffing Bitty’s pancakes into their mouths while Bitty looks on primly, a look of slight disgust on his mouth as he watches Holster fit an entire pancake into his mouth at once. But then he turns his head, and Dex is smirking at him, his short red hair sticking up haphazardly, and Nursey suddenly can’t breathe. 

One of Dex’s eyebrows slowly raises, traveling closer the hairline, and Nursey suddenly realizes that he’s maybe been staring in silence for like ten seconds too long. 

“So does this mean I get to eat before I die?” he asks quickly, to cover up this faux pas of sorts. 

Dex shrugs, replies, “Bitty would kill me next if I got blood in his kitchen,” and turns back to his own food. 

Nursey isn’t 100% certain if Dex is being serious or not, and he’s worried about how he finds it oddly endearing. 

He also finds himself turning away from his conversation with Chowder every now and then, ever so slightly, his eyes drawn back to Dex’s animated face as he talks about something with Jack and Bitty. Chowder doesn’t seem to notice, carrying on excitedly with his analysis of his professors this semester. 

Dex is gesturing around with his fork beside him, and his eyes are bright, but not with the anger that used to be directed towards Nursey so often in the past. He’s got a smile on his face, and when Nursey manages, again, to redirect his attention away from the freckles on Dex’s forearm before he becomes too obvious, for a second he catches Lardo’s curious gaze across the table, one eyebrow raised as she watches him. 

Chowder, Bitty, and Ransom leave soon after, to get to class, and the others clean up and then trickle off to class, to dorms. Nursey manages not to drop any plates, though it’s a close call when he’s got two glasses in his hands coming around the table, and Dex is right there, leaning over the table to grab the last of the silverware. 

Nursey flees to the living room to start working on his Islamic Lit essay. 

***

It’s an abnormally warm day for early February, and it seems that the entirety of Samwell’s population has taken advantage of this miracle to actually sit and loiter outside, rather than speed-walking from one building to the next, huddled in giant parkas. 

Nursey has situated himself on one of the benches placed near the pond, stretched sideways on it with his backpack on the ground and his notebook in his lap. Because, obviously, what better place to search for inspiration than the quiet seeming to emanate from the water, the stillness of the bare trees around him, the sun warming the back of his neck--

“Yo, Nurse!” Nursey’s pen stills on the paper of his notebook, and he slams the cover shut before Dex can reach his side. “This weather is ridiculous,” he says, but the only thing Nursey finds ridiculous is how good Dex looks with a dark green beanie pulled over his head and ears, red hair escaping wildly around the edge, cheeks slightly pink, a smile tugging at his lips. His jacket’s only half-zipped, and Nursey has the overwhelming and totally unacceptable urge to slip his hands under the high-necked, extremely soft-looking cream sweater Dex has on. 

_Like, what the fuck, Nursey,_ he asks himself. 

Dex pushes Nursey’s feet away from the end of the bench so he can sit down. 

Nursey would be complaining about that, but he can’t seem to find the voice to -- instead, he just pushes his feet against Dex’s thigh in retaliation, and leaves them there. He doesn’t have the energy to do much more than that; not with Dex in this abnormally good mood, smiling at him from across the bench. 

Dex is staring at him funny, and Nursey belatedly realizes that he hadn’t said anything at all, not one word, since Dex showed up. No, instead he just stared like a creep, good going. 

He shrugs. “I’m not complaining; it’s kind of nice to not be freezing my ass off for once.” 

Nursey’s definitely not freezing now, that’s for sure. In fact, he’s practically overheating, and this is not ok, why does this only happen sometimes, he’s around Dex all the time, for fuck’s sake. 

Only -- sometimes Nursey doesn’t always notice. And then the light hits Dex’s eyes at just the right angle, or he stretches out after sitting hunched over his laptop for hours, or he shows up at morning practice with the cutest bedhead, and Nursey feels like he’s been punched in the gut. 

It’s one of those times now. It’s also definitely not helping that Dex’s hand has, seemingly without Dex’s conscious permission because why the hell would Dex be doing that, found itself wrapped around Nursey’s ankle, and his thumb is tracing up and down ever so slightly. Nursey is incapable of any thought besides _fuck shit fuck what the hell is he doing WHY is he doing that_. 

To add injustice to injustice, Dex is calmly watching a trio of girls skipping rocks, eyes tracking their skips, as though he’s got nowhere to be, nothing better to do than to sit here and fucking drive Nursey insane. 

Grabbing blindly at his notebook and backpack, Nursey suddenly swings his legs away from Dex, almost instantly regretting the loss of contact. “I, umm, forgot that I have to, err, meet some people for this group project it’s for my Shakespearean Drama class and we have this project due and I completely forgot sorryforrushingoutonyoulikethisDexseeyoulater!” Nursey babbles, probably making no sense at all, and flees the scene as quickly as he can without looking like even more than an idiot. He even -- very calmly, of course, and definitely not to get one last look at Dex -- turns around and gives Dex a wave, which Dex returns with a simple raised hand, even as he’s already digging his laptop out of his backpack. 

*** 

“But, bro, keeping it bottled up like this is never good. You know that, right,” Lardo is saying, but Nursey’s too busy staring at the ceiling and watching the smoke he blows from his mouth drift up to really pay attention. He passes the joint back to Lardo, and she lightly smacks his side before accepting it. “Nurse, are you even listening to me, you fucker?” 

“I’m not keeping it bottled up though. Honestly, I don’t write about anything but him anymore.” 

Lardo’s laughing, and Nursey pouts at her. 

“You’re such a cliché poet; I can’t believe you just said that.”

“Shut up, you’re an artist, you don’t have much room to talk.” 

“Touché, but also I don’t angst about my love life in _all_ my art.” 

“I can’t believe you would mock my art, my passion, like this, Lardo.” Nursey’s lazy tone belays the dramatic gravity of his words, and he props his feet up on the headboard of Lardo’s bed. “I am sick of the disrespect; I feel wounded, nay, betrayed -- here I was thinking you were a brother in the arts, someone I could trust--”

Lardo’s shaking with laughter by this point, and she rolls over to rest her head on Nursey’s chest. Nursey’s running a hand through her short, silky hair, weirdly entranced by the way he can feel her laugh, even when he ignores what he hears. 

“Stop laughing at me, you bitch,” he says, but it’s less than half-hearted, and Lardo just flops her hand up in the vague direction of his face and smacks him lightly on the cheek in retaliation. 

“Nurse, for real -- why don’t you just talk it out? You obviously like him. And you’re not exactly subtle about it, you know. Pretty much everyone knows.” 

“What? Fuck,” Nursey says, breath running out his chest in one big sigh. He was usually so good about keeping all the real things hidden under his devil-may-care laidback attitude, but-- 

“Chill, bro, Dex is as clueless as ever,” Lardo says, and Nursey calms immediately, but for some reason Lardo’s admission doesn’t make him feel as good as he thought it would. 

He wonders if it would be easier if Dex knew.

Unrealistic. Blocked. Dex would either laugh at him or angrily tell him to stop fucking with him. 

“Yeah,” Nursey replied half-heartedly, trailing off. He feels Lardo heave a deep sigh above him, muttering, “oh, you dumb kids,” under her breath. 

“It’s not my fault he--” Nursey is cut off by the sound of the door opening, and he doesn’t bother turning his head -- it’s probably Shitty -- but Lardo is raising herself up onto one elbow and passing the joint to Nursey to take. 

“Hey, Dex,” she says, and Nursey almost starts coughing like a fucking amateur with the joint still between his lips. He tilts his head backwards on the bed, arm falling limply down, and even upside down, Dex is stunning in the most surreal of ways. He thinks, _it’s not my fault he looks like that. It’s not my fault his eyes are so full of fire and brightness that I feel flames licking through my veins. It’s not my fault that when he looks at me like that I can’t help the way my mind feels quiet but my heart feels full to burst. It’s not my fault that I’m falling in love a little step at a time, wading endlessly, irreversibly, towards the ocean, knowing full well that when the water reaches above my head, I still won’t want to turn back. It’s not my fault, but it is, and I still don’t mind._

Nursey and Lardo have been talking about something while Nursey has been lost in his own head, and when he finally zones back in, they’re both watching him expectantly. 

“Huh?” he says eloquently, and both of them laugh, but Nursey’s eyes are glued to Dex: to the curve of his neck as he tilts his head slightly back, the freckles dotting his jawline, the curve of his lips, the way his eyes scrunch up as he laughs at Nursey, and Nursey doesn’t even care that they’re laughing at him, because (a) he’d be laughing at himself too and (b) Dex looks so carefree right now, here in the half shadows of nearly midnight and the soft glow of Lardo’s fairy lights, so far from the tense, angry expression that clouds his face too often. 

Nursey wishes Dex never had a reason to be tense. 

He wishes he could kiss Dex. 

Shoving the joint back into Lardo’s hand, he swings his legs down and to the ground erratically, smiling much too wide, probably looking panicked too but he can’t help it. He feels sluggish and too hyped all at the same time. 

“I really have to go, need to catch at least some sleep, haha, I’ll catch you later, Lards, Dex,” Nursey mumbles, and practically trips out of the room. He claps Dex on the shoulder as he passes, friendly enough, but his hand feels ice cold and on fire; he’s hyperaware of Dex’s eyes watching him stumble out of the room. As he starts tripping down the stairs, he faintly hears Dex say, “What’s up with Nurse?” 

Those words stay with him the whole way back to his dorm, up until he falls into bed and into sleep almost as soon as his head hits the pillow. 

***

“But it doesn’t actually matter what modern context we place Shakespeare, though -- we have to understand in the historical context first and foremost. And transplanting it into the modern day isn’t pure Shakespeare anymore.”

“But isn’t the whole point of literature that it lasts? If we can’t place into our own contexts, after understanding it in the original, then what’s the point?” Nursey counters, shifting the strap of his backpack, and once again checking his long stride in order to remain at the same pace as Claudia. 

Claudia’s frowning at the sidewalk, shaking her head slightly. “But that’s not Shakespeare, then, that’s us taking what he wrote and putting our own meaning into it. We can’t claim Shakespeare was talking about the same things, the same issues that we’re talking about. If we take Hamlet and put him and the play in a modern context where we’re clearly talking about sexuality half the time, then we’ve taken the original meaning out of the play.” 

“Like I said, that’s the point of literature, that we can transplant it to our own context and it still have meaning to us. I’m not denying that it’s not pure Shakespeare anymore at the moment we do this-- oh, listen, we’re almost at the Haus; where are you headed?” 

“I’ve got choir rehearsal so I can’t stick around and chat, but... you wanna grab coffee after class Monday to continue this?” Claudia tucks her curly hair behind her ear, smiling crookedly up at Nursey. 

“Sure, what the hell, I don’t think I have--” Nursey stops mid-sentence, mouth dropping open in a scarily cartoon-esque way, as they step within view of the Haus’ front lawn. 

Claudia is already laughing at the scene before them: Holster, Ransom, Shitty, and Dex are clustered around a mess of wood boards and blue tarp, a water hose coiled at their feet erratically, all of them shirtless and Shitty iconically in American flag print board shorts and a jean vest. There are a few beers sitting on the grass around them, and Bitty is perched on the porch railing, phone in hand, grinning widely, probably livetweeting the whole fiasco. 

Claudia probably thinks Nursey’s come to such a complete standstill because of the ridiculousness of the situation. From all reasonable hypotheses, it would seem that Samwell’s hockey team is attempting to build, in the front yard of their frat house, a kiddie pool. 

In all honesty, there’s nothing too surprising about this whole situation. Nursey had assumed it would happen eventually, once it got warm enough -- which it is now -- after Holster had mentioned the idea during a kegster a while ago. 

What’s got Nursey glued to the spot is Dex’s broad back, pale and freckled and muscular from years of hockey training. It’s the backwards baseball cap stuck haphazardly over his red hair, somewhat endearing but mostly just fucking hot. He’s gesturing with his free hand at Shitty, his gestures annoyed (and even that’s fucking cute somehow), trying to hold two boards together with his other hand while Shitty does absolutely nothing with the hammer and nails he’s holding. Instead of doing whatever Dex is probably telling Shitty to do, the guy looks up and spots Nursey. 

“NURSEY, BRAH, GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE AND HELP US,” Shitty yells, and that’s all it takes for the other three to spot him. Holster and Ransom immediately start gesturing and waving as well, but Dex -- Dex is just standing there, watching him, an expectant look on his face. 

Claudia shoves an elbow into his side lightly, and Nursey scowls at her as they start walking again. “Well, go help, what’re you waiting for?” She’s openly laughing again, freckles barely visible against her dark skin, smile wide and sunny. 

Nursey just shakes his head, amused, and makes the mistake of looking back at Dex. 

Which results in him tripping over absolutely nothing, and taking a few wild steps, somehow miraculously managing to right himself before gravity has the chance to pull his face into contact with the ground. 

Claudia’s looking between him and Dex with a look in her eyes that Nursey doesn’t know how to interpret but isn’t entirely sure he trusts. She gives him a pointed look, then lightly punches him in the shoulder and says, “I’ll see you Monday, then, Nurse. Have fun!” before walking away, a bounce in her step. 

Nursey makes his way to his teammates, dropping his backpack next to Bitty with a forced-casual “hey,” trying to ignore how Dex is still watching him. Bitty gives a little wave, smirking slightly, but Nursey elects to ignore the expression on his teammate’s face in favor of turning back to the foursome gathered around the informal kiddie pool. 

To be honest, Nursey’s feeling rather attacked right now, between Claudia’s tacit whatever-it-was, the look on Bitty’s face, Dex’s bare torso in the golden glow of the late-spring sunlight, and the weirdly unannoyed way Dex is watching him. Yeah. All in all, feeling very attacked. 

Determinedly and not so effectively attempting to push these thoughts out of his head, Nursey makes his way over, receiving some heavy claps on the back from Ransom and Holster, accompanied by a “Glad you could finally join us, Nurse,” from Shitty. 

Nursey flips Shitty off, and surveys the mess they’ve made on the front lawn.

“How long have you been working on this?” 

Ransom and Holster immediately start arguing over whether it’s been one hour or three, and whether the time they spent drinking rather than building counts, while Dex just rolls his eyes in exasperation. 

_That’s adorable_ , Nursey thinks, and then promptly mentally smacks himself, tearing his eyes away and back to the kiddie pool. 

***

Another hour and a half later, the pool is actually built. Somehow. Mostly thanks to Dex.

And definitely not thanks to Nursey, who, although occasionally more helpful than Shitty, mostly tripped over the hose, tripped over the wooden slats, tripped over nothing in particular. All this tripping was, however, mostly thanks to Dex, so he supposes it evens out in the end. 

They’re all sitting around the newly built pool, beers in hand, joined now by Bitty, Lardo, Jack, and Chowder, waiting for the water level to fill up. Nursey’s elected to sit on the far side from where the hose is coiled over the edge of their makeshift pool, as to avoid the chances of tearing the whole thing down. 

Dex is lying on the grass, hidden from Nursey’s line of sight by the pool except for the top of his knee, where it’s bent up. He’s conversing with Bitty about -- seafood, it seems? while Nursey gently daydreams, one hand running lazily through the slowly rising waterline. He watches Dex push himself to a standing position, has a moment to wonder where Dex is headed, and is quickly interrupted by Ransom’s battle cry as he springs up and lightly shoves Dex into the pool. Dex barely has time to yell “You asshole!” as he descends, throwing out a hand uncoordinatedly to stop himself. He manages to latch onto Nursey’s shoulder, pulling them both into the water. 

When Nursey’s head resurfaces, everyone is in chaos: water flying everywhere, the hose being brandished by Holster, his teammates yelling, and he can’t hold back the laughter bubbling out of him. His elbow’s sore from where it hit the ground, but Dex’s hand is still gripping his shoulder, and when Nursey glances over, Dex has a blinding smile stretched across his face. 

Nursey grins back. 

***

It takes approximately eight whole minutes for Nursey to extract himself from under Shitty’s arm, where he’s been trapped since they actually won at beer pong against two random soccer guys. He knows because they wouldn’t shut up about it; also they were short. Only the soccer players are short, Nursey thinks to himself, giggles, and then wonders why exactly he thought that and why exactly it was funny. 

Lardo’s short, after all, and she doesn’t play soccer.

Or maybe she did, once?

Filled with newfound purpose to test his hypothesis, Nursey starts pressing through the crowd, intent on finding Lardo among the crush of people at the kegster. 

“Oh, no you don’t, where are you going,” a voice behind him asks over the music, and someone grabs his sleeve. Nursey turns to find Dex latched onto him. 

“I’m finding Lardo,” he pouts. 

“Why?” 

“To see if all short people play soccer.”

“....What.” 

“To. See. If. All. Short. People. Play. Soccer. Do you need it in Spanish too? Para descubrir si-”

“Shut the fuck up, Nursey,” Dex interrupts, looking at him like he’s ridiculous, but the tone of his voice is amused, not angry, and his eyes are watching Nursey with warmth and maybe fondness, and Nursey can’t bring himself to care about being sort of insulted. He is ridiculous, after all. 

Nursey stares at Dex a few beats longer than necessary, then says, “So are you gonna help me find her?” and grabs Dex by the arm before he can answer, dragging him through the crowd. 

Dex lets himself get pulled along as they thread their way through the crowd dancing and drinking around them, until Nursey bumps into Chowder and Farmer by accident. 

“Nurseyyy!” Chowder exclaims. “Dance with us!” And then they’re all dancing, and Dex is stuck with them in this little pocket. Farmer’s got an arm around Nursey, and Nursey laughs, face open and full of joy, as she jokingly mini slut drops in the limited space. 

And then he makes the mistake of looking over at Chowder and Dex beside them, who are dancing way more intimately than Nursey maybe expected, and he trips over thin air. It’s a good thing Farmer is still beside him, because she stops him from falling over completely when confronted with Dex’s flushed, smiling face, his arms around Chowder’s waist, body moving more smoothly than Nursey was prepared for. 

Farmer’s staring at him, a grin on her face, when Nursey looks back. 

As he starts stuttering something about finding Lardo and soccer players again, he sees Farmer elbow Chowder sharply in the ribs and Dex’s confused expression, and then he’s plunging back into the crowd, feeling overheated and so, so unbelievably stupid. 

***

He knows Dex isn’t into him. 

Nursey knows he doesn’t _know_ this, but also he Knows. Dex had never, never given any indication of being into guys, and the relationships with the few girls he had gone out with had ended within a couple of weeks. So all in all, long story short, Nursey should definitely just take this stupid, pointless crush and slam dunk it directly into a mental trash can before it can cause him any actual emotional harm. 

He stares morosely at his half-done essay on Shakespeare’s _Julius Caesar_ , ignores the indistinct chatter of Annie’s that surrounds him, and mutters to himself, “Friends, Romans, countrymen, stupid crush, lend me your ears; go the fuck away.”

It probably doesn’t work. Nursey doesn’t feel much different now than he did five minutes ago. 

He tips his head back in defeat, eyes closed, and stays there until his feet are suddenly and rudely pushed off the seat in front of him. He bolts upright, nearly elbows his cup of coffee directly onto his laptop, and then slouches in his seat when he sees Dex sliding into the seat his feet were previously occupying. 

There’s a tightness in his chest and heat at the back of his neck, and Nursey sighs. 

Dex is watching him across the table, not saying anything yet, which is vaguely worrying in and of itself, especially when combined with the slight frown that sits on his face. 

“Are you just gonna stare at me? Because, like, I have an essay to finish before midnight and while I appreciate the sentiment or whatever, it’s kinda distracting.” You’re distracting, Nursey adds on in his mind. 

Dex’s frown deepens, and without preamble, asks, “Do you suddenly hate me again or something?”

Nursey bolts upright for the second time in three minutes. “No! Dex, no, what the fuck, why do you think that-”

“It’s just, you keep finding clearly bullshit excuses to leave whenever I show up,” Dex interrupts. “One moment you’re fine to hang out with me, the next you can’t seem to stand being near me. I thought we were better? We’re doing well on the ice, we’re past the stupid animosity we started out with, I know I was a dick at first but I’m trying, and you stopped being such an asshat too, but maybe I was wrong? Are we not friends now?” 

Nursey’s brain isn’t quite caught up to everything Dex has just said, and before it can, he blurts out, “I keep leaving because you’re hot and I can’t fucking think,” and then immediately lays his forehead on the laptop keyboard in front of him so he doesn’t have to see what reaction that garners. 

There’s just silence for a much too long moment, and Nursey starts planning possible ways to escape Samwell and disappear from existence. Sheepherding in the Scottish highlands sounds nice, he supposes. Not a lot of people, lots of vast nothingness. 

“I… What.” 

“Don’t act like you didn’t understand me,” Nursey mumbles without picking his head up. 

“You could have said something sooner.” 

“What, so you could turn me down sooner and make me not show my face near Samwell for the next ten years?”

“Stop being so melodramatic. And you didn’t even ask me anything to say no to yet anyways.”

“What the fuck, Dex, fine.” Nursey sighs out, defeated, and finally raises his head. Dex is sitting across from him with eyes wide, biting his lip. 

Nursey quickly looks away from Dex’s mouth, and finally, with weary finality in his voice, asks, “Dex, will you go on a date with me.” 

“I’d love to.” 

Seconds tick by. 

Nursey’s mouth is hanging open, thoughts stopped in their tracks. 

“Are you fucking with me?” 

Dex’s eyes narrow at Nursey from across the table, a blush beginning to work its way across his cheeks. He raises himself on his elbows and plants a kiss on Nursey’s lips, quickly, lightly, then sits back down. 

Nursey can’t contain the giant grin that splits his face

“Do you still think I’m fucking with you?” 

Nursey’s non-verbal answer is a resounding, definite _no_.

**Author's Note:**

> i still don’t know how to fuckin end things and i also am still writing short pieces while ignoring my longer projects what’s new with y’all 
> 
> find me on twitter as @jesperfxhey and on tumblr as @reneewvlker kiddos <3


End file.
